Snowstorm
by ahiijny
Summary: On a freezing stormy day, in classroom 1-Q, four friends play a game together and about half the class doesn't come to school. Free time! It's pretty fun until the fire alarm goes off.


**日常****- nichijou, Arawi Keiichi**

* * *

Yukko looks at the card in her hand. Her face is scrunched up in concentration. Mai, Mio, and Nano are sitting around the table, looking at Yukko expectantly.

_[Telephone]_

_[Call]_

_[Mobile]_

_[Talk]_

_[Ring]_

_[Bell]_

Yukko is sweating. She has no idea what to say. She looks at the hourglass sitting on the table. The white sand is more than halfway to the bottom.

"Screw that!" Yukko says, rotating the card 180 degrees. "Let's just play the Japanese version. We've practiced our English enough, haven't we?"

Mio sighs. "Giving up so easily, Yukko? Well, it's okay, I guess."

"Mm. It's true, the game would become faster paced since Japanese is our native language," Nano says, smiling.

Mai just nods.

"Okay, it's agreed, then!" Yukko smiles. "We're switching from English to Japanese!"

"You're out of time," Mai points at the hourglass.

"Agggh!"

They're in classroom 1-Q. The four of them are sitting around Mio's desk and playing a word puzzle game right now. They found this game in their classroom, next to all of the Japanese-English dictionaries.

Technically, classes are still in session right now. However, only sixteen of the thirty people in their class actually came to school today. There's a snowstorm going on right now. So, Sakurai-sensei let the class some free time.

"It sure is cold today," Mio remarks, turning towards the window.

"It was minus 15 when I got to school this morning, with a wind chill of minus 19," Nano confirms, nodding.

"It's snowing horizontally," Mai says quietly.

"That too," Nano says. "I saw it in the news. They said there could be wind gusts up to 55 kilometers an hour, and also lots of heavy snowfall. Something like 25 to 30 centimeters in the next 24 hours."

Mai nods.

"That is a lot," Mio says. "I wonder if we'll get home okay?"

"Just a bit more snow, and school would've been cancelled this morning!" Yukko says, throwing her arms in the air. "Man, it was really borderline. Darn."

"Still, it looks like lots of people still ditched today," Mio says, taking a look around the classroom. It's a lot emptier than usual. About half as full.

"YODO," Yukko grins, holding up a finger.

"It can't be helped, I suppose," Nano explains. "I think I heard about how the snowploughs are struggling to keep up with the falling snow. It'd probably be difficult for people to get here if they live far away."

"It stands for 'You Only Ditch Once'," Yukko explains.

"Huh," Mio says.

"Well, in any case, I'm glad," Yukko says stretching back in her seat. "With so many people absent, our quiz got pushed back to Monday."

"Mm," agrees Mio.

"I suppose?" says Nano.

"I would have preferred to get it over with," Mai says, staring at Yukko.

Mio and Yukko stare at Mai. Nano looks back and forth between Mai and the other two.

"In any case, since we changed game modes in the middle of your turn, I guess you can have another try, Yukko," Mio says. She puts her hand on the hourglass.

"Oh really?" Yukko grins, eyes narrowing. "Heh, you'll regret it, Mio-chan…"

Mio flips the hourglass, starting the timer. Yukko snaps her attention to the card in her hands.

"Uh… let's see…" Yukko says.

Telephone

Call

Mobile

Talk

Ring

Bell

"Something when you want to communicate…" Yukko says.

"Mouth?" Nano guesses. "Conversation? Words? Uh."

"No, it's a thing… uh…" Yukko tries to think up of something.

"…?" Nano looks at Yukko.

"Um… Let's see here… Uh…" Yukko suddenly grins and holds up a finger. "Aha! C.R. Jepson's…?"

"Call Me Maybe?" Nano says.

"Yes! That! Um—"

"Call?"

"No, not that, what you use to do that with… Uh…"

"Uh."

"It's a device you use to—"

"Cell phone?"

"No— Close!"

"Phone?"

"Nye—"

"Telephone?"

"Yeah, that's it!" Yukko cheers, dumping the card onto the table. "Okay, next!"

"Time's up," Mio says, pointing to the hourglass. Time has run out.

"Meh." Yukko sinks into her seat.

"Okay, one more point for team B," Mio says, adding a tally onto the score sheet. "Our turn."

"I'm going to watch to make sure you don't use the disallowed words," Yukko says, springing out of her seat and planting herself behind Mio.

Nano has her hand on the hourglass. "Ready?" she asks.

Mai has a calm look on her face. Mio's hand is hovering on top of the pile of cards, ready to draw.

"…Set, GO!" Nano flips over the hourglass.

Mio pulls out a handful of cards from the pile and starts racing through them one by one.

Red Ribbon

Awareness

Symbol

Cloth

Thread

Wear

"The thing that Annaka-chan always w— er— has on her head," Mio says.

"Air," Mai guesses. "Neurons. Oxygen. Hair. Ribbon,"

"Yeah! The colour?"

"Red."

Mio motions for Mai to continue.

"Red Ribbon."

Mio slaps the correctly guessed card onto the table, already moving onto the next one.

Faint

Unconscious

Fall

Sleep

Shock

Hit

"Uh… The thing that Nakamura-sensei always does!" Mio exclaims.

"Faints," Mai says.

Mio slaps the card onto the table, moving on.

Evidence

Proof

Clues

Court

Document

DNA

"Er… The thing that lawyers need—"

"Money. Witnesses. Testimony. Proof."

Mio gestures 'keep going'.

"…Evidence."

Slap. Next.

Robot

Mechanical

Metal

Oil

Wrench

Android

"Nano-chan."

"Robot."

"Hey!" Nano cries.

Yukko giggles as Mio slaps the card onto the table. Nano smiles nervously.

Mohawk

Iroquois

Tribe

Hairstyle

Shave

Center

"Nakanojou-kun's h— um— the thin stringy things that grow on his head."

"Biomaterial. Hair."

"Yeah! The particular, er, visual arrangement of that."

"Sticking up. Round. Curved."

"No, some sort of… er… artistic thing that barber might do with—"

"Style."

"Sorta… What kind of that, in particular?"

"…Mohawk."

Wasabi

Green

Spicy

Japanese

Sushi

Pain

"The… edible additive thing that I add to my food—"

"Vinegar. Soy sauce. Sesame oil."

"That even though it sorta burns my mouth I eat stuff with it anyway because it makes stuff tastier."

"Peppers. Boiling water. Acid. Concentrated hydrochloric acid."

"What? No, it's the colour of a traffic light that means 'go'."

"Wasabi."

Winter

Season

Christmas

Snow

December

Cold

"Divide the year into four—"

"Season. Semester. Term—"

"With different tempera—" Mio has just noticed the word 'December' on the list. "November and January."

"Winter."

Meta

Beyond

After

Greater

Self-Reference

Acronym

"Uhh…" Mio stares at the card.

Mio discards the card.

Hypothermia

Temperature

Cold

Snow

Winter

Shiver

"That thing that you'd get if you went outside naked—"

"Pain. Frostbite. Fatal death."

"A medical sickness—an ailment— you get it if you are too the opposite of hot…"

"A cold. Flu. Trench foot. Hypothermia."

"Good work," Mio grins, tossing the card onto the table.

Euler's Number

Math

2.71828

Logarithm

Constant

Limit

"Uh… We used it for calculating interest—"

"Equation. Function. Powers. Exponents."

"It's named after a—"

"Euler's number."

Great

Respected

Legend

Alexander

Large

Vast

"Five is blank than three."

"Greater."

Snow

Ice

Water

Freeze

Winter

Rain

"Falling outside now."

"Frozen water. Snow."

Wind

Fan

Tree

Cloud

Blow

Air

"The thing that's gusting n—"

"Wind."

Incredulous

Gasp

Disbelieving

Skeptical

Wary

Narrow

"Long-ish word. Yukko's face right now."

"Incredulous."

Mai finishes speaking just as the last of the white sand falls into the bottom of the hourglass. Mio tosses the final card onto the table triumphantly. "Ha HA!" Mio grins, turning around to smirk at Yukko.

"Eeh..." Yukko says with a shocked expression on her face.

"Amazing!" Nano smiles widely. "You won thirteen points!"

"Heh heh," Mio says, rubbing the back of her head.

The corners of Mai's mouth may have turned upwards a fraction of a millimeter.

"Hmph," Yukko says, smiling. "No matter. We'll catch up next time, won't we, Nano-chan?"

"Mm!" Nano grins. _Is this what having friends is like?_ She turns towards the window with a smile, looking at the harsh conditions outside. _It's really nice just relaxing inside the school, playing a fun game with friends, protected from that snowstorm. It's all warm and cozy here._ She sighs happily.

"How long is each turn, anyway?" Yukko asks, eyeing the hourglass.

"I think the instructions said that the hourglass measures one minute," Mio replies.

"Yes, that sounds right," Nano nods. "Wow, thirteen words guessed correctly in only sixty seconds? That's what…"

Nano's expression blanks out. "Uh…"

She grabs a piece of paper. "That's what… Um…" She starts writing on it, but she quickly gets confused. "Say, what's sixty divided by thirteen again?"

"A bit more than an average of four seconds a question," Mio says, drawing a circle in the air with her finger.

"Four point six, four point seven." Mai replies. "Around there."

"Let that stand as the new record!" Mio grins.

"Not for long." Yukko looks at Nano. "Ready?"

"Mm!" Nano nods. Her hand is poised above the cards. "I'll do my best."

"Ready," Mio says. "Set, go!" She flips over the hourglass.

Nano pulls out a card from the pile and starts reading the ca

_BRRRRRIIIIIIINNNNNNNGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG __GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG _

* * *

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi

* * *

Nano drops the card. Everyone in the class has stopped what they're doing. Everyone's turning and looking at each other with incredulous expressions.

Yukko face-palms. "Are you kidding me."

"Um…" Nano speaks up. "Is that what I think it is?"

"…"

"…"

Sakurai-sensei is blocking her ears, looking around nervously. "Um… class?" she starts.

Mai stands up with a blank expression on her face.

"…" Mio opens her mouth, ready to speak.

"Fire?..." another student says, hesitantly.

"No way."

"What should we do? Should we run?"

"A fire alarm, today of all days?"

"…Yeah, it's a fire alarm," Mio says dryly, answering Nano's question.

"Um, class!" Sakurai-sensei says, sweating nervously. "Remember our practice drills! No need to panic!"

The class calms down a bit. It's true, they had done a fire drill earlier that year. The teachers had organized the drill after seeing how panicked and unorganized the students were acting when the fire alarm had sounded for the first time.

"We're going to have to evacuate the building?" one student says incredulously.

"Outside?" another student says, gesturing towards the windows. "But it's like… … …"

Yukko hisses through her teeth. "This had better not be another drill."

"If we're going outside, we should get our coats and other clothing on," Nano says, standing up and beginning to walk towards the back of the room, where their lockers are. Mai is already fully dressed.

The class sees the wisdom in this and begins grudgingly moving towards the back of the classroom. As they're doing this, the deafening fire alarm is still clanging away.

"Um. Um." Sakurai-sensei is hurriedly grabbing her coat. "Um."

The last of the sand falls to the bottom of the hourglass.

"Um. Um. Um."

The students begin hurriedly walking out the door, muttering under their breath. They're pulling on their coats en route. They're surprisingly quiet. It could be due to the fact that they're much better trained now with the proceedings of a fire alarm. It could also be that there's not much point in talking if they're just going to be drowned out by the sound of the fire alarm. They could also be quiet because of the daunting fact that they have to go OUTSIDE, into the snowstorm. Oh yeah, there's around fourteen people absent today. It could be that, too.

"We should hurry," Sakurai-sensei says nervously, waving the students out the door.

"Are we going to be okay?" Nano asks nervously, looking around. She hasn't actually experienced a fire alarm before.

"The firefighters should come quickly and put out the fire," Mio says, trying to smile.

Mai stops in mid-step. Mio, Yukko, Nano and the others catch up to her.

"Fire trucks," Mai says. "Roads."

"AGGGH!" Yukko bangs her head into a nearby wall. Then, she continues walking.

"What?" Nano asks.

Mio shrugs.

"Where is the fire?" Nano can't see any smoke from where she's walking.

"Maybe it's on one of the upper floors or something," Mio says.

Students from other classes are moving through the hallway as well, on their way outside.

"Move it, people!" Takasaki-sensei shouts. "This is a fire alarm, not a leisurely walk!"

The four girls unconsciously quicken their pace.

The students have already wasted a lot of time pulling jackets and coats and things from their lockers. There's definitely no time for everyone to take off their school shoes and switch into their boots.

"Move! Move!"

The school door opens and the freezing wind blasts into Mio's face. Mio flinches back. Several ice crystals are clinging to her face. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"We should hurry, Mio-san," Nano says, looking at the crowd of students behind them.

The students brace themselves, and push out into the snow. The deep snow. Some piles of snow go higher than their socks. Must be at least 15 centimeters already.

"Crap crap crap," Yukko is saying, her hands deep in her pocket. "This'd better be over quick." Her teeth is chattering.

"Move away from the school towards the far side of the field!" shouts another male teacher. "Don't forget the fire drill proceedings!"

Mio takes a short glance back at the school. With a start, she realizes how much snow has accumulated on the roof of the school. And the garbage cans, and the recycling bins. The snow on the bins could almost be cube-shaped. These snow blocks are nearly high as they are wide. She shakes her head. _Seriously… _she thinks.

Blowing snow is the worst. Some gusts of wind hit the snow on the ground and blow it right back into the air again. Into their faces. Ugh.

The students of 1-Q huddle together next to the fence. Sakurai-sensei struggles after the students, holding a clipboard in her hands. "Okay, attendance!" she says. Her eyes are squinting. She pulls out a pencil. "Um…"

Predictably, the attendance sheet flies out of Sakurai-sensei's hands right away. "Oh!" Sakurai-sensei sighs. "Um, class, is anyone missing? Does anyone have a friend that's not here?"

The students look around at each other. The blowing snow is making it difficult for everyone to keep their eyes open. They're all lowering their heads against the wind, so all they can see is legs and snow.

"I don't think so…" a student says.

Sakurai-sensei looks around, trying to count the students. "Nn…"

"Nano-chan, turn away from the direction the wind's blowing from," Mio says, nudging Nano with her shoulders. Her hands are in her pockets.

"Stupid wind," Yukko says. "It keeps changing directions."

Mai is just standing there with a blank expression on her face.

"Um… look at the bright side," Mio starts.

"The bright side is the direction away from where the wind's blowing," Yukko says, "and that keeps changing."

"At least we know we'll have a lot of snow to play with once the storm's over," Mio finishes.

"…" Yukko stamps her foot, trying to keep warm.

In the meantime, Sakurai-sensei has stumbled over to Takasaki-sensei's class. "Do you know anything about this?" she asks.

Takasaki-sensei looks towards the school. It's just a dim grey shape from this distance. "No," he says. "It's not a drill, if that's what you're asking. I haven't heard the principal say anything about this."

"Good," Sakurai-sensei says, smiling.

"Yeah, it would be really dumb holding a fire drill in this weather," Takasaki-sensei says, laughing.

They see a pair of dim human-sized shapes in the distance.

"Ah, are those the principals?" Sakurai-sensei asks, turning towards the school.

"Mm," Takasaki-sensei says, nodding. "They must have finished going through the school to make sure that no student was accidentally left behind or anything like that."

"The principal," Yukko says to her friends, seeing the two men approach them at the far end of the field. Hands in her pockets, she stumbles in the snow towards the two men.

"Oi, you two know what happened?" Yukko demands.

The principal hears Yukko's voice and turns toward her. "The fire department has been automatically alerted and they should be on their way," he says. "They should arrive in a few minutes."

"This isn't a fire drill or anything, right?" Yukko demands.

"Ha, ha," the principal chuckles light-heartedly. "No, of course not."

"You know where the fire is?" Yukko demands. Looking back at the school, she can't see any smoke rising out of the school.

"Hm…" The principal looks up in thought. "When checking the school, I'm pretty sure I saw some smoke coming from the science department…"

"Na-ka-mu-ra." Yukko hisses.

"What's the hold up, old man?" the vice-principal yells, walking back into sight. "Come on, we've gotta have all the teachers check in with us."

"Ah, yes," the principal smiles.

A gust of wind tears the principal's paper wig right off his head. It flies out of sight almost immediately.

Yukko takes a step back, eyes blank and wide open. "Urk."

The principal's smile is unchanged. He hasn't noticed yet.

* * *

On the left whiteboard is a diagram of a circle drawn in green marker. Inside the circle, a dotted line has been drawn to show the diameter. Next to the diameter there is written:

d = 4.1

And beside the circle is the following:

C = π d ←(diameter)

C = (3.14)(4.1)

C = 12.14

"—and we'll be continuing where we left off, with the first ever radio wave apparatus," the teacher is saying, looking at the board. "However, it seems that we won't be able to use this board because whoever wrote this wrote it in permanent market."

"It's not even the right answer," one student says, shooting up her hand.

"Is that so?" says the teacher.

"It should be like 12.8 or something," the student says.

"Did you use 3.14, or the exact value of pi?" the teacher asks.

"It's still wrong either way."

"Huh. Well, no matter."

"I know a way to get the permanent marker off," another student raises his hand.

"Really?"

"Nail polish remover?" a student pipes up.

The student is already making his way up to the board. "No…" He picks up an erasable black marker— the one actually meant for use on this board. He begins drawing very darkly right on top of part of the green circle. Then, he erases what he has drawn, and the permanent marker is erased with it.

"Well. Maybe you'll actually finish erasing it before the class is over," the teacher says, amused.

"Ha ha…" the student laughs nervously. He turns to his friend. "Could you take notes for me or something?..."

"Much appreciated," the teacher says, nodding. "Anyway, let's get started. So, as I was saying, using this new "wireless" apparatus to transmit—"

* * *

All of the students have now crowded together into one big clump in order to preserve body warmth. The clump is also acting as a wind shield of sorts. There's already a significant accumulation of snow on all of the students' coats and hoods and hair.

"GOD, aren't the fire people here yet?!" Yukko shouts into the air. Inside her pockets, her fingers are clenched into fists.

Mio is standing huddled between Yukko and Mai. "Must be the roads…" Mio says. Her voice is very unenthusiastic. "They're probably be clogged with snow by now."

Mai gives Mio a look.

"Oh…" Mio says. "So that's what you meant back then..."

"Um…" Nano nudges Mio. "Does this sort of thing happen normally?"

"What?" Mio asks.

"The fire alarms during winter."

"It'd better not."

"…"

"GOD, IT'S FRIKKIN' FREEZING!" Yukko shouts.

"Sure is," Mio says glumly.

Several teachers are walking back and forth in an attempt to keep warm. Others are standing still in order to remain with the student crowd wind-shield.

A long time passes in silence.

"Have any of you seen the _March of the Penguins_?" Mai speaks up.

"No," says Yukko.

"No," says Mio.

"No," says Nano. "What's that?"

"Never mind," says Mai.

A long time passes in silence.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!" Yukko shouts suddenly. "Geez, for emergency services, these fire guys sure are taking their sweet time!"

"It must be the roads," Nano says.

Mai nods.

"Roads," Mio says glumly.

A long time passes in silence.

"If I catch whoever's responsible for this, I'm gonna _kill_ them," Yukko hisses. She stamps her foot. It's gone a bit numb.

"Ah, you can't do that," Mio says glumly. "Laws and all that."

"Um…" Nano's eyes flick around nervously. "Was Yukko-san serious about that, or was she just making a joke?"

"Yes," Mio says glumly.

Nano looks at them with confusion.

"Don't worry," Mai says, turning to Nano. "There are much better ways to get revenge."

"Uh!" Nano looks back and forth. "Say, you three. Is there some sort of game or thing we could talk about to keep our minds off the cold?"

"…" says Mio.

"…" says Mai.

"…" says Yukko.

"What about Shiritori?" Nano says. "Okay, I'll start. Shiritori!"

"…" says Mio.

"…" says Mai.

"…" says Yukko.

"Um, that's the word," Nano says nervously. "Yukko, why don't you go? We'll go in clockwise order."

"Ri…" says Yukko. "Hm…

"Ri…

"ri…

"ri…

"ri…

"ri…

"ri…

"ri…"

Yukko blinks. "Wait, wha? What were we talking about again?"

"Shiritori," Nano says, sighing.

"It's the damn cold," Yukko frowns, kicking the snow. Yukko's eyes widen. "Oh crap, I think I started to lose consciousness back then. Is that bad? Does that mean I'm going to die of hypothermia?"

"It can't be that bad," Nano says, smiling nervously. "It's only been a few minutes. Maybe you just started to get bored. That's all. Just hang in there a little longer, and the firefighters will arrive and put out the fire, and then we can go back inside."

Yukko looks down at her feet. "Y'know, I'm seriously considering going back into the school and warming myself up with the fire. Jumping into the fire. Warmth…"

"Yukko!" Nano reprimands.

"Yeah, yeah, just joking," Yukko says glumly.

"Let's just look at the bright side," Nano says.

"Side… not wind…" Mio mutters glumly.

"Uh… Well, it's really cold right now, right?" Nano says, smiling nervously.

"Don't remind me." Yukko stamps her foot.

"Well, in about six months, in the summer, it'll be really hot, right?" Nano says.

Yukko just stares at Nano blankly. Mio and Mai are staring off into the distance with unfocused eyes.

"If there's a really _really_ hot day, like over 35 degrees, then at least you have the comfort of this day," Nano says.

Yukko stares at Nano. "Wha?"

"Well, when it's cold, you would imagine warm things, right? Like fire, sun, ovens, toasters…" Nano takes her hand out of her pocket to wipe some snow off of her eyes. "Well, when it's really hot, you would imagine cold things, like ice, Antarctica, snow, popsicles, freezers, and so on. Well, you can add this day to that list as well."

Yukko stares at Nano blankly.

"One day, when it's really hot, you can think back on this day and remember how freezing it was. The thought of this day will one day bring comfort to your future self."

"…"

"…"

"Do you hear any sirens yet?" Yukko asks.

"No," Nano answers.

"WHAT'S TAKING THEM SO LONG?!" Yukko cries.

"Um…" Nano says.

Several minutes pass.

"Let's see…" Nano says. One of her eyes is closed. "We should keep moving. Our body generates heat as a by-product of work."

"Hm…" Yukko starts stamping her foot, again.

"Mio-san, Mai-san," Nano says, turning to the two of them.

They sluggishly take a few steps.

"First signs of hypothermia," Nano recites. "Stupidity. Uh… when your brain gets too cold it doesn't work as well as usual."

"That's nice," Yukko says, rolling her eyes.

"What is the quadratic formula?" Nano asks.

Yukko's eyes blank out.

"Mio-san? Mai-san?"

They don't say anything.

"Uh… that can't be good," Nano says to herself.

"I don't remember the frigging quadratic formula," Yukko snaps.

"I don't either," says Nano. "But we've got that math test coming up…"

"That's for future Yukko to worry about," says Yukko. "Future not stuck outside in a snowstorm Yukko."

"Hm… Okay, what is 3 plus 4?" Nano asks.

"It's 7," Yukko mutters. "I'm not that stupid."

"Mio-san? Mai-san?"

They don't say anything.

"Uh…" Nano says. "Okay, let's see… confusion, sleepiness, slurred speech, shallow breathing, weak pulse, low blood pressure, behaviour change, excessive or stopped shivering, poor coordination, arm or leg stiffness…"

"How do you remember all that?" Yukko asks.

"Yes," Nano answers absentmindedly. "Well, they haven't stopped shivering, so that's a good sign. Um… Hm…"

"Any sirens yet?..." Yukko mutters. She hears a sound faint in the distance. "Is that a siren? Or is it just the fire alarm from the building? It'd better be not be the fire alarm from the building."

"Don't drink alcohol… Hm… Paradoxical undressing…" Nano says.

"I hate this." Yukko walks in little circles, trying to stay warm.

"Many people from the Titanic died in the minus 2 degree water within 15 to 30 minutes…" Nano says.

"Oh, that's so comforting," Yukko says sarcastically.

"Ah! Sorry… I didn't mean…" Nano takes a hand out of her pocket and puts her fingers on top of her closed eye. "Um…"

"Is it really good to be talking so much?" Yukko wonders. "We're probably losing a lot of heat through the air that's coming out of our lungs."

"Please stop talking immediately," Nano says in a commanding tone.

Yukko shrugs.

"Traffic cameras," Nano whispers. "Traffic cameras… traffic cameras… Here it is."

Yukko turns around and looks the other way.

"Ah!" Nano has a grin on her face. "The fire truck is just a block away."

"Mm," Yukko mutters.

"It's crossing the intersection just down the road," Nano says.

"Mm," Yukko mutters.

"Also in the intersection are two upside down cars, a flipped over oil truck, some twisted metal in a snowdrift… wait, is that a car?" Nano starts frowning.

"Mm," Yukko mutters.

"Okay, an ambulance has just entered the intersection, but it's spinning, and…" Nano flinches. "Uh… well, at least it didn't flip over."

They stand there for a few seconds.

"Uh… well, at least the engine fire isn't causing the ambulance to explode…"

Several students are looking in the right direction to see an orange glow in the distance.

"Well… at least there's lots of snow in the way… Maybe that will stop the fire from spreading to the oil truck…"

The orange glow quintuples in luminosity.

"Well, at least the fire truck is already there…"

_Crash._

"Well, at least the jeep crashed into only the passenger's side of the fire truck…"

Yukko is shuffling around on her feet, trying to stay warm.

"Well, at least the ambulance is already there…" Nano crosses her arms.

Snow continues to fall.

Nano flinches. "Uh… well…"

She gasps, taking a step back. "Um…"

"Ooh," she grimaces. "Um…"

"What's going on?" Yukko asks.

Nano snaps open her eye. "Well… Ah…"

Yukko raises an eyebrow.

Nano sighs.

* * *

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi

* * *

"It's finally here!" Yukko cheers. Her hands are remaining clenched deep inside her pockets.

"Finally," Nano nods.

Through the white fog of the snowstorm, the students can see the fire truck lights in the form of a red glow not too far away. The fire truck lights are slowly moving along the street just beyond the fence, towards the school. Most of the students are too cold to jump for joy or anything like that. Some just mutter some exasperated words. They remain inside the student cluster. In fact, the student cluster has shrunk in diameter since it had been first formed. This means that the density of the cluster has increased, and everyone is huddled closer together than when they had first gotten out here.

"Just a little longer." Nano nods. "We'll be able to return to the building at last."

"Back then, we barely had enough time to grab all of our clothes to bundle up," Yukko complains. "I didn't have time to grab my gloves or hat and stuff. All this cold can't be good for us."

"Mm."

The fire truck lights stop at the front entrance of the school in the distance.

"Nano-chan, aren't cold eaten four sin never _sole_ for hearty _pineapple_ fell?" Yukko asks.

"Wh…" Nano looks at Yukko. "What?"

"Y'know, the sick train actual isn't _forty_ kettle in _leading _sip tape sighing tree wick cull," Yukko says.

"Yukko-san, are you okay?" Nano asks in concern.

"It's not like the cheese fallen snake," Yukko smiles. "Rather, the heathen tape at knelt the sun in snowy asphalt-caked _crabby_ faults stark Arctic. That's aside _pen_ skiing forked said nor."

"What are you talking about?" says Nano. "I don't understand a word you're saying."

"Raining car in penny soar," Yukko explains. "It's grail that white can glass write sit on leaving cloud. Don't integer can ball farm shark? It's very bark that double will ate can _pass_ and smart. Not feet why kill since blue _optical_ branch realizes sick great because floor."

"Yukko!" Nano shouts.

"Yeah, yeah, just kidding," Yukko sighs.

"Hm…" Nano sighs.

* * *

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi

* * *

"The warmth!" Yukko cries. Her voice is weak. The students have just started re-entering the building.

"Mio-san, Mai-san, are you two all right?" Nano asks.

Students of 1-Q begin walking into the classroom. Some students are shivering violently. None of them take off their coats.

"Mio-san, Mai-san?" Nano asks. Mio and Mai stand impassively in front of Nano and Yukko.

"Um…" Nano says.

Mai takes her hands out of her pockets and slaps them onto Yukko's face.

"EEEEK!" Yukko shrieks, instinctively swatting Mai's arms away. "COLD! Those're cold! Geez!"

Mio's teeth are chattering. "Just give us some time to warm up, okay?"

Nano takes off her coat and offers it to Mio. "Here, take this. You have the lowest core body temperature of all of us."

Teeth chatters. "Th-thanks…"

Nano blinks, frowning. "Mio-san, some parts of your body are below 29.4 degrees Celsius, or 85 degrees Fahrenheit."

"I didn't have time to grab my hat… or my mittens… or my scarf… or my sweater…" Mio shivers.

"Total elapsed time, 42 minutes," Mai says.

"Huh?" Yukko says.

"How long we were outside." Mai's face is expressionless.

Yukko pouts. "That long!?" She sits down and crosses her arms, shivering. "I'm going to have some serious complaints to lodge once I warm up."

* * *

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi

* * *

The next Monday, only fourteen students show up for the morning assembly.

Fourteen students out of the entire school.

"Uh…" the principal nervously scratches his bald head. (However, he has put on another wig.) "Good morning, everyone. I would like to thank all of you for making an effort to show up today…"

"_A-choo!_" A student rubs her nose with her sleeve.

"Bless you," says another student.

Mio is absent. Yukko is absent. Nano is absent. Alone, Mai stands impassively. She doesn't look any worse for wear.

"Uh…" The principal takes a look around. Only a few teachers showed up today. Takasaki-sensei and Nakamura-sensei. And himself. That's it. Hm… At least Vice Principal is absent today. That makes things a little happier.

It's a bright and sunny day. The wind is calm. The snow goes right up to the students' knees. The sunlight is glaring off the snow, making it extremely hard to look at.

_I need to make it short_, he thinks. _It's still rather cold today. But really, what is the point of having an assembly if practically no one is here?_

Another student sneezes three times in quick succession.

"Bless you," says the first student.

"…And that concludes the morning assembly," says the principal. "Please proceed to your classes."

As Mai trudges through the snow towards the school entrance, she looks around and notices that Sakurai-sensei isn't here. _The quiz is going to be pushed back again_, she thinks. _How unfortunate._

* * *

**日常 ****- nichijou, Arawi Keiichi**


End file.
